DAC Collection Artist Information

Louis Jacques Mandé Daguerre
French (1787 - 1851)

French inventor, scenographer, and Daguerreotypist.

Brief biography, in most instances from the Union List of Artist Names® Online:
Daguerre first made his name designing detailed and elaborate stage sets for operas. In 1822, he and his partner Charles-Marie Bouton opened the Diorama in Paris. The building served as a venue to combine lighting effects and painting to create the illusionistic effect of moving pictures and changing scenes. The popular attraction made Daguerre internationally famous. In 1826, he formed a partnership with Nicéphore Niepce, who had been experimenting with a rudimentary photographic process. After Niepce's death, Daguerre continued with the experiments, which eventually led to the invention of his daguerreotype photo process in 1833. Daguerre did not officially release his invention to the public until 1839, after selling it to the French government in hopes of making a profit. With the money he earned from the sale of the daguerreotype process, Daguerre retired to Bry-sur-Marne the following year.

Artist ID number in the Union List of Artist Names®:ULAN 500022993.The ULAN link above leads to a cataloging authority record at the Getty Research Institute.

Information here was last updated on 1/14/2019. Some is from older cataloging. Most objects acquired through 1/14/2019 are represented; cataloging is in process for some objects. We continue to add and update content. Please contact the DAC Registrar of Collections to suggest corrections with citations. Captions embedded in DAC images have basic information as of the time the digital image was made; details and updates appear on object pages.